The countdown is on . . .

What could POSSIBLY be keeping the attention of my ENTIRE family? (Gavin, Brady, Curt, Aidan)

Oh right. Baby Einstein Video.

After a long hard day at the ranch (i.e. the weekend) dad and the boys were chillin' watching a Baby E. video. We have to put the coffee table in front of the TV or they will stand 2 inches from the set (if we are lucky they are that far away) and then fight b/c someone can't see. THey have finally reached an age where they will watch for the full 20 minutes. And Aidan is our addict b/c he is now turning the TV on whenever he can so he can watch (not just play with the buttons like Brady and Gavin do). we have lots of tape on the front of our TV now.

Gavin recently had his follow up visit to the nuerologist at the public hospital. Long story short - the dr. thinks the seizures are solely from fever and that we just need to anticipate and plan for fevers. so we didn't learn much. The LONG version is that we also didn't feel so comfortable in some of the others things he was suggesting due to some comments he made. Like when he asked us MULTIPLE times if we (curt and i) were "blood relatives" (OK, so it is more common here even if it doesn't make sense biologically). Like when he said he thought curt looked like he was from New England from the size and shape of his head. Like when he told me I was "dangerous" after I told him i grew up in TX (ok, so he was right on that one)

Gavin and I also started a fun game when he is in the lower high chair where i put my t-shirt over his head and cover it completely. He now asks for it by grabbing my shirt and trying to pull it over his head as he laughs like crazy. Curt is worried he will do that in public and people will think we are perverts or something. It's just too fun to stop doing though! :)

Bath time - that tub is getting too small! (B, A, G)

Tonight was lots of fun in the bath! Aidan decided to hug on his brother a bunch. Gavin was allowing it even when Aidan was alittle rough for our taste. It then devolved into an all out wrestlemania while brady looked on. This is one of the few pics that doesn't show penises. :)

The boys are also showing lots more emotion with each other - both affection and annoyance. The other day Aidan was set on the naughty mat for trying to climb the drying rack for the umpteenth time. Of course he cried and complained and a few seconds later, BRADY shows up, gives him a kiss and then sits on the mat with him and they begin to talk. I guess with the extensive amount of time Brady had spent on the mat in the previous week, he knew Aidan might want a friend to visit with him. :) OK, so it was REALLY cute.

Aidan and Gavin - What? You aren't supposed to sit in the library cart?

Aidan loves riding the motorcycle - i bet he can't wait until his feet can reach the pedals!

How cute is Gavin? He likes his cape! :)

Gavin's tantrums have toned down a little bit, but he has decided he doesn't like to come to the table when it's time to eat. After his complete meltdown teh otehr night where he screamed and cried everytime we came near him for dinner, we have been much more easy going about bringing him to the table. He will start to make his way into the dining room and then if he sees one of us at the door, he will run the opposite direction babbling like crazy and hide by the couch. It's the WEIRDEST thing. Sometimes (when he has hidden long enough?) he will come to us and wait for us to pick him up and will be as sweet as can be . . . i'm not quite sure what to make of it. but he's still pretty dang cute (when he's not throwing a fit).

Juliette and Brady on some other kid's trike

One of my RHDs saw this picture and laughed and said "He looks like such a badass". This is sweet little Juliette - she seems to have a crush on all three of the boys, depending on the day. She speaks THREE languages as fluently as a 2 year old can - English, French, Russian (russian mom and french dad). The boys may be a little out of their league! :)

Brady has a WORD EXPLOSION right now. It is ridiculous and so adorable at the same time. he has begun to sing the ABCs when we do, the Raindrop song, etc. He loves repeating words after us and is learning colors too. He is also bringing his brothers their lovie (though it's usually b/c he stole it from their crib) when they are upset or sometimes if they are jsut sitting on our laps. Aidan is getting there - the other day out of nowhere he sings ee-i-ee-i-oooo with us. and we hardly EVER sing that song to them! Gavin is still babbling a lot, but only a couple real words now and then. He is still asking us to name pretty much everything, so i'm sure when he starts talking, it will be in paragraphs. :)

Just a few days until our month long vacation. I truly hope that I neglect this blog while we are gone - if only b/c that means i'm having lots of fun with my family and maybe my husband and I are getting out on some date nights!!! Pray for curt, my mom and i on our 16 hour direct flight from Doha to Houston this friday. Let's hope the boys are good to us and our fellow passengers . . ..

Happy Mother's Day!

Are you lookin' at me? (Gavin)

Happy Mother's Day! This mother's day was spent with me at work (sunday-thursday work week and all), but we DID have a fun filled family weekend. People were getting over illness (mom and dad included) with only snots to contend with, so we did a family grocery run that ended with Brady trying to crawl out of the cart and falling on the tile floor. Seemingly no concussion, but MAN did it shake him up! We hope the silver lining is he won't try to climb out of things like his crib, amusement park rides, etc in the future. :) On Saturday we went to our new pool with a friend (Thanks Jill!) and the boys and they just LOVED it! Lots of people, outside, cool water. it was THE BEST. Gavin loved kicking, getting splashed and for me to jump in from the side while i held him. crazy kid. We also went to a picnic along the corniche with some friends. LEss relaxing for us as the boys were continuously heading for the parking lot, garbage can, other people to beg for food. One woman pulls out a KitKat bar and just hands it to Brady. I could NOT beleive it - who gives other people's kids candy??? (well, other than child molesters) Curt says as he is coming to move Brady away "He doesn't know what that is" and she looks at him like HE is the crazy one . . . (sigh)

Our new "tent" (Gavin, Aidan, Brady)

This tent is getting it's money's worth - the boys have tried to drive their baby strollers in it, their trike, etc. They like to read books in it, play with the balloons we filled it with, squish it on one another, play in it like it's a fort with a blanket over the top, etc. loads of fun!

Gavin, Aidan, Brady heading to a picnic on the Corniche and singing "Lemon drops and Gum drops"

We haven't had a good pic of the three of them in awhile, and this one doesn't look like it will be either :( They all wanted baseball hats on to go to the picnic - not sure why as they ripped them off as soon as we got out of the car . . . They were certainly the life of the party though!

Brady is pooped without a morning nap today

Down to one nap a day is good for the most part. We still have some EXTREME whining around 10 -1030 am that can stop ANY day now, but we really are enjoying doing some longer morning activities. The bad part is dad and I are so exhausted we sleep almost as much as the boys do during THEIR afternoon nap! THis shot is just after the fall out of the grocery cart incident, so we weren't sure if his crying for 20 minutes wore him out or if he had a concussion. or both. either way he took a 25 minute nap (because he just NEEDED it) that morning and then still slept a couple of hours in the afternoon. Hallelujah!

Yes, that is a cheerio in Aidan's ear. Yes, he put it there. And ate it when i pulled it out.

Aidan is just FUNNY. He was SOOOO proud of himself for having found a nook to put something in. and then to have it stay there. and then to be able to eat it after i got it out. He hasn't put anything in any other body part, but i'm sure this is just the beginning.

Brady and Daddy ROCK OUT!

Brady's hair spikes THE BEST by far of the three boys. His hair is so light it is like filaments that stand up straight all the time in a big poofy mound on top of his head. he has the best bed head - makes you just want to snuggle in with him!

Aidan does a little light reading (he set the pillow up for his head)

Gavin and mom read a favorite book - "Cold Little Duck, Duck, Duck"

I think Gavin is on the verge of beginning to talk like Aidan and Brady are. In the last couple of weeks he has been pointing at EVERYTHING for us to name, much like Brady was doing in January/February. Books now take much longer as when we get to the end, he goes back through for you to name things over and over again. And he is our puzzle boy. He loves to sit at the table in the mornings before breakfast and point at the pieces or show them to us and have us name them over and over again. He has also been having a lot more full out tantrums that Touchpoints (child development book) says is an indication they are getting ready to go through some new milestone of development (T. Barry Brazleton says that reverting to "disorganization" in behavior is how toddlers/babies are then able to "re-organize" at the higher level of development. Says this has been shown in chimps. If he's right, Gavin will be writing poetry before the end of the month . . .) :)

A hand-me-down potty makes a nice reading space (Aidan)

For my reflection this Mother's Day I am realizing a few things. 1) in some ways i think having all three at once is the ONLY way I could have had a family. I think of how TOUGH those first few months are and thank God we only had to do it once. I really don't know if I could have handled having another kid knowing what hell you are walking directly into and having no way of knowing if it will be better/worse/the same hell you had the first time. even if I still get the googly baby eyes when i see newborns. :) 2) I am more patient with these boys than i am with ANYTHING and ANYONE in my life. I feel like I owe it to them since they were born onto a "team" they didn't get to decide they wanted to be on for themselves. For the most part, I see their (sometimes insanely annoying) behavior as the way they are learning about the world and their path through it. the least i can do is shepard them along at the pace they need. 3) I have a completely amazing husband who is such a good dad. He may not always have the patience for their shenanigans (like when they decided they didn't want any dinner last night, so decided to throw food and then cry while we cleaned them and then closed them off from the kitchen so we could eat in "relative" peace. I think curt was thinking about moving to New Zeland) but he loves them with his whole being and shows it by doing all the little fun/boring stuff you do as a parent to provide for your kid (and not just in the way you go to work to provide for your family - i mean diapers, games, tickle fights, sucking snotty noses, etc) 4) I am much more able to enjoy any time we have away from the boys than I did before. I was so exhausted at times, that it felt like more work for curt and I to get away than anything else, even if I always came back from our time happy and refreshed. Now, our routine is such that i don't feel like I'm always on my last leg before we are going to have a night out. THAT is a very good thing. :)